1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle suspensions. More particularly, the present invention relates to suspension lift spacers for use with coil springs.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of vehicles for off-road travel is popular to reach remote camping, fishing, and hunting locations and has developed into a sport in itself. It is common to employ spacers to the suspension to lift the vehicle relative to the ground so as to increase its clearance. This allows the use of larger tires and to travel over rugged terrain. The use of standard pickup trucks and the like for off-road adventure driving is common, however, their suspensions are not originally designed for such use. The use of suspension lift spacers in the suspensions improves their utility for off-road use by increasing ground clearance for rough terrain. Such spacers must be designed for each particular truck make and model. The Dodge Ram 1500 truck, for example, has coil springs and thus requires a spacer fitting between the coil spring and the upper or lower spring receiver and must accommodate an axial shock absorber. Lift spacers are presently available, typically in 2″ and 3″ lift sizes, however known spacers require special casting and/or expensive machining. It would be desirable to provide such a suspension lift which is simple in design, made from readily available plate and cylinder stock, requires no expensive machining, and is sufficiently rugged for its intended use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,482, issued Aug. 20, 1974, to Norris describes an adjustable coil spring lifter to provide lift or restore loaded spring height.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,171, issued Nov. 21, 2000, to Bono et al. describes a coil spring isolator for a vehicle suspension.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,039, issued Feb. 13, 2001, to Gass, describes a projection welded panel spacer and the method for making the spacer by welding flats to tube stock.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,071 B1, issued Nov. 19, 2002, to Newhan, describes a suspension kit to raise a vehicle front end.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,828 B1, issued Apr. 8, 2003, to Gass, describes a welded panel spacer and method of making the spacer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,642,471 B2, issued Nov. 4, 2003, to Imai et al., describes a method for welding steels including plate to cylindrical stock.
Internet Website http://Performancelifts.com describes a Daystar 02–24 Ram 1500 2″ lift spacer.
Internet Website http://www.daystarweb.com describes front coil spring spacer kits for Dodge Ram 1500 suspensions.
Internet Website http://rough.roughcountry.com of Rough Country a division of Heckethorn Products, Inc. is a source for a coil spring spacer for Dodge Ram 1500 suspensions (See FIG. 5 of the instant application).
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a vehicle suspension lift spacer for Dodge Ram 1500 trucks solving the aforementioned problems is desired.